Effective E-Learning for Technology Transfer in the Global, Multi-Generational Workplace

October 20th, 2010 by Susan Nash

When you think of the best way to learn about the newest technology, what do you think of? Chances are, the first thing you’ll do is to engage in informal e-learning, which is to say that you’ll do a Google search and read articles, white papers, advertising, customer testimonials, and commercial promotions in order to familiarize yourself.

This post was made to accompany a presentation which you can download here:

What do you do, however, when you need your training to be a bit more systematic? Where do you turn to when you want to learn from an expert? How do you satisfy licensing, certification, and academic qualification requirements?

While face-to-face instruction continues to be a solid segment of the training and education community, it’s important to realize that e-learning has come a long way in the last five years, primarily due to connectivity and access, as well as advances in mobile devices. The notion of any time, any place is truly a reality.

I remember sitting at a workstation at the local internet provider’s office in Chimoio Province in northwest Mozambique near the Zimbabwe border. I was teaching an online course, and I loved the juxtaposition — the high-tech office which sat squarely across the street from mud huts with grass roofs.

That was five years ago. If I were to be in the same situation today, I would not necessarily need to go to the internet cafe. Instead, I’d be able to use my smartphone to participate in online learning. Mobile learning has become important — even when people want to be able to work on laptops in addition to their mobile devices.
Here’s the podcast: